Lately I’ve been spending less time online, but not for the reasons you might expect.

I’m not cutting back because I’m concerned about screen time or blue light or the cumulative effects of doomscrolling on the human psyche (although those are all good reasons, too).

I’m cutting back because it’s a competitive advantage.

I’m an ideas guy. (It’s kind of my whole thing, actually.) But contrary to common creative mythology, ideas don’t just pop into existence. They’re made from other ideas.

The formula looks like this: you take two or more existing ideas, combine them in a novel way, and boom! You’ve got a new idea!

That’s good news, because it means that creativity isn’t a special talent that is reserved for the chosen few. It’s something all of us can do.

But it’s bad news, too. Because if everyone can do it, then there are over 8 billion people out there with the potential to come up with your breakthrough idea before you do.

In such a competitive environment, how do you give yourself the upper edge?

You find inputs your competitors don’t know about.

This means searching in places the opposition is too lazy to look.
It means doing deep dives and getting curious.
It means getting off the beaten path.

And if you ask me, there’s no path more beaten than the internet.

There’s a reason for this, of course. There’s lots of good stuff on the internet! But despite what the technologists keep promising us, the internet does not contain the sum total of human knowledge. And it never will.

There are many books that have never been uploaded. Films that have never been digitized. Sculptures that have never been photographed. Songs that have never been recorded.

But beyond that, there are conversations, experiences, and perspectives that simply cannot be digitized and still retain their full impact.

Some things can only be understood through direct experience.
Some things can only impart their full impact in person.

Most people never take the time to seek these things out, because it’s much quicker, cheaper, and more convenient to go back to social media for the next dopamine hit. But if you take the time, spend the money, and suffer the inconvenience, you’ll have inputs your competition doesn’t have. And those may be exactly the inputs you need to have your big breakthrough.

That’s why I’ve been trying to log off more lately.
To read more books, stop at more garage sales, and make more things with my hands.
To pick up the phone more often or invite a friend for coffee.
To sketch and write and daydream.

I’m not doing this stuff to relax (although I do find these things relaxing).

I’m doing it to find new ideas to remix. I’m doing it to stock the shelves with stuff my competition doesn’t have.

Happy Friday, friends. Make it a good one.

Kyle Scheele
Helping launch better ideas, faster.
​www.KyleScheele.com​

P.S. The irony of publishing this on the internet is not lost on me.
​P.P.S. My new book has a whole section about how to find the best bits of inspiration, how to capture them, and how to make sure they’re handy when you need them. You can grab a copy here.​